


The Scared Child Inside

by softmoonlight



Series: Whumptober 2020 [8]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebel Rising - Beth Revis, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Canon Divergence - Star Wars: Rebel Rising, First Meetings, Gen, Not Star Wars: Rebel Rising Compliant, Planet Tamsye Prime (Star Wars), References to Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), Whumptober, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:40:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27582854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softmoonlight/pseuds/softmoonlight
Summary: Saw told her to stay in the bunker. So she stayed.
Relationships: Jyn Erso & CT-7567 | Rex, Jyn Erso & Saw Gerrera, Saw Gerrera & CT-7567 | Rex
Series: Whumptober 2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952500
Comments: 7
Kudos: 31





	The Scared Child Inside

**Author's Note:**

> Cannot believe this is my first Rogue One fic despite it being my favorite sw movie. Shame on me
> 
> Day 8 prompts: don't say goodbye | **abandoned | isolation**

The smoke obscured the night sky beyond recognition, and eventually Jyn stopped trying to look. Stopped trying to figure out when Saw would be back for her. Stopped.

She listened to the endless sounds of firebombing from the Destroyers in orbit. She absorbed the concussive feeling of explosions all around until her body stopped rattling and went numb. She hunched in on herself as much as she could in this tiny space, arms wrapped around her knees, gritted her teeth, and waited.

_Wait in a shell turret until_ _daylight,_ he'd said.

Until daylight. Jyn promised it to herself over and over like a prayer, even as the sky promised her death before that much time could ever pass.

_Daylight, and then they'll come back for you. He'll come back for you. It's Saw. Saw always comes back for you._

She was that small, scared child on Lah'mu again, hiding in a cave staring up at the hatch unblinking, with nothing but do but wait until the danger passed.

Nothing to do but hope Saw would come for her.

The hours passed like years, and he wasn't back. But he would come; he had to. Jyn didn't know what she would do otherwise.

Slowly but surely, the sounds petered out. The fires flickered down to embers. The shouts of troopers grew less and less.

And when first light flickered inside through the crack, she knew.

Saw had left her.

Like a fool, she waited just a bit longer, despite knowing the truth. Maybe he was simply late. Maybe there was a blockade still. Maybe...something. There had to be something.

She couldn't be alone again. She couldn't be abandoned again. She didn't want to be.

The approaching footsteps almost startled her, so absorbed was she in her own panic. It was only one pair, so it couldn't be a leftover 'trooper patrol.

_Saw._

Pure, exhilarated relief crashed over her, and Jyn flung open the hatch to throw her arms around Saw—

—only to find herself barrelling toward _something_ white and blue, which was definitely not anything that belonged to Saw. He'd never want to blend in with troopers, or simultaneously stick out in such a way. She skittered backward just as quickly, back hitting the wall as she took in the other person.

She focused on him just in time to see him take his helmet off and tuck it under his arm. It was a middle-aged man with light brown skin, a scruffy white-gray beard and a face lined with blaster scars. He wore armor that resembled stormtrooper gear, but with splashes of ocean blue that Jyn knew the Empire would never allow in a simple foot soldier. Individuality was not allowed.

Her mind raced. Bounty hunter? Mando? Stolen armor? All of the above?

His eyes crinkled a little when she drew the blaster lightning-fast and leveled it right between his eyes.

"Who are you."

A laugh, portly and almost...grandfatherly, if she could guess what that even sounded like...and the man didn't move to defend himself at all, to her faint fury. "I was about to ask, but I don't need to. You're definitely Saw's."

Quashing the instinctive pride at that comment, Jyn narrowed her eyes, because—"Is that a _threat?_ Did you hurt him? _Where is he?"_

_Now_ the man held up one of his hands, but only somewhat, so he still didn't seem to be taking her seriously. "Relax, little'un, he's perfectly fine. He sent me to get you."

Jyn stopped short at the absurd epithet, digested the rest, then narrowed her eyes. "I'm not little, I'm _sixteen!"_ she objected hotly.

He merely smiled. "I'm twenty-seven, so you're little to me."

"Twenty...?" she faltered. This man was at least fifty standard! Was everything he said just to mess with her head? Where was Saw?!

Then Jyn remembered, faintly, the one time Saw had mentioned his sister's death. It was during the Clone Wars, when Jyn was just a baby and the Empire didn't even exist yet. The Jedi and the GAR had sponsored a mission to train the Onderonian rebels.

The Clone Wars...

"You're a clone," she guessed. It was the only way the age could make sense.

"I prefer 'Rex,'" he corrected lightly, "but yes. Smart kid, aren't you? Most people don't recognize us these days. Too old."

"Saw told me about you once, when I was nine or so," she said, and was unable to avoid the brag when she added, "I'm good at remembering."

Even if her father hadn't given her many things, Jyn was at least lucky enough to inherit parts of his exceptional mind—eidetic memory, ease with codebreaking, and the like. 

The clone, Rex, nodded. "Saw's an old friend. Lost contact a long while, but the man's resourceful, and finally found a way to get me a message. I had to fight my brother whether to go, since it could've just been the Empire, but there was no question about it. I had to go. The man sent me to get his daughter, and to us, family is everything." He looked at Jyn meaningfully.

And again with the embarrassed swell of emotion at Saw claiming her as his, even though he had done as much almost since the day he took her in.

Jyn shifted, still not daring to lower the blaster, since this could still be a trick.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

_And did he tell you who I am? Why he's kept me hidden for so long?  
_

Rex considered, gaze calculating in a way that reminded her that for all he looked quite old, he was still a genetically-engineered supersoldier with a strong tactical mind. She had to be careful. "His sister's name," he murmured, a trace of regret entering his voice. "It was Steela."

Jyn finally relaxed her grip, letting her hand fall to her side in relief.

You couldn't find that name on the Holonet anywhere. The Empire didn't want anyone who researched Saw to find anything resembling a sympathetic backstory. The Rebels were simply extremists and extremists only to most.

The only way Rex could know was if Saw had told him, or he was there himself.

She wondered if Rex saw her die.

"Let's go," Rex said gently, and placed a hand on her shoulder to steer her back to wherever direction he'd arrived from. "Stay alert. The danger's not gone yet."

Jyn fell into uneasy step beside him, holding the blaster slightly aloft again in case she needed to take out any surprise threats. She also reminded herself about Saw's knife, safely nestled in her boot; it'd work well for close-quarter combat if she lost the other weapon.

"Are we rendezvousing with Saw soon?" she dared whisper.

Rex's expression shuttered, and he looked over and down at her sadly. "No, little'un—sorry, Jyn. They know about you now. You can't go back to Saw."

A chill ran down her spine at the implication that Rex did, in fact, know her whole identity. "Then...where am I going?"

She hated how small and young her voice sounded in that moment.

The smile was back. "To stay with me and my brothers, of course." He winked. "I hope you like joopa."

And Jyn frowned at that, not entirely sure whether she liked the idea of simply following after one of Saw's war buddies, but...Rex seemed nice. And he was living proof she hadn't been abandoned again.

Maybe she could get used to it.

**Author's Note:**

> -If this was a true, pure angst whumptober fic it probably would be canon compliant Jyn sadness in this scene, but we've already established I'm very bad at pure angst and like my hurt/comfort payoff.
> 
> -"Little'un" is something Rex calls Ahsoka in the Clone Wars movie novelization.
> 
> -I have a lot of issues with this book but in the very least it does make it clear how much Saw adored Jyn.
> 
> -Jyn's relationship with Galen is very complicated. She still thinks of him as her father, and loves him in a complicated, upset way, but Saw's also close to being her father, and she loves him like one too. During this book she carries a lot of resentment for them both.
> 
> -Saw also isn’t as bad as (probably mostly white) creators have made him out to be, especially in eu materials. If they can recognize that Cham Syndulla is a freedom fighter not a terrorist, then they should recognize it for Saw too rather than doubling down on it. But we all know why they do 🙄 
> 
> -I find it really OOC that Wolffe hid Ahsoka's messages to Rex (and ratted to Kallus) in Rebels, so in this AU he didn't. Instead, Ahsoka is the conduit through which Saw's message is sent. Wolffe is still more cautious though, and as Rex mentioned here strongly objected to Rex going to Tamsye Prime on a whim.
> 
> -Now Jyn gets to meet Kanan, Sabine, and Ezra when they come to Seelos and have more friends her age :)


End file.
